T-Awesome blend of rich malts with the smooth and gritty wheat body to add depth. The hops come through quite well, but are subdued by the layers of flavors. Big dark sugars and soft spices mix very well with the vinous flavor. Slight hint of oxidation, but something that I seem to find in most wheatwines, including my own.

M-So much flavor with a remarkable layer of velvety smoothness. The soft, unoffensive flavors hang on the tongue well after the swallow. The noticeable bitterness balances it out. Great feeling beer!

D-Snifter of Wheatwine at the Great Dane on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with friends after the farmers market...tough to find anything to complain about! Maybe a bit big for a lunch beer, but I couldn't pass it up and was glad that I had the opportunity. (1,155 characters)

Cloudy amber bronze with a healthy and lasting plume of beige. Nose of banana-nut muffins, dark rum and brandy heat and fruit, and biting floral and dried wintergreen hops. The first sip validates the "wine" portion of the moniker. Intensely malted with wheat bread, caramel nuts, dates, port, raisins, and carob. Wheat yeast traits show up midway and bring bubblegum, peppery rye, and banana esters. Hop follow closely and tote peppermint, dessicated herbals, and dried lilac notions. Booze hammers home the close with Cognac and aged dark Rum, but only as suggestions, not as explicit hotness. Built upon a medium full frame with enough CO2 to give it a structure a generally slighter feel. The intensity of flavor limits it drinkability much more than anything else. This is a good, heavy, hoppy, malty, barleywine-esque rendition. I like it a lot. (855 characters)

Black cherry iced tea with meager golden accents. The lid was one finger of ecru hued creaminess that looked great covering the opening of the mini snifter. It became a thin disk in minutes, wisps and swirls in several more minutes, and was then gone. Quite the impressive appearance, especially when the glass was first presented.

The nose was difficult to sort out due to a slight lack of power and definition. Warming helped to some extent, just not enough. RVWW smelled like grapefruit brandy (though I've never heard of such a thing) and it was obvious that it was going to be sweet. Beyond that... hard to say.

Ramblin' Vine Wheatwine is a first-time offering at The Dane and is a very good rendition of the style. My bartender said it was his favorite Dane offering of all-time. I wouldn't go quite that far, but it was exceptionally tasty. And powerful. Due to the 10.5% ABV, it's served in eight ounce snifters for $5. Limit of two per person.

The brewers turned a barleywine into a wheatwine by replacing 40% of the barley malt with wheat. Easy as that. They also hopped the hell out it using Ahtanum hops. That particular variety is especially grapefruit-like and is used in Stone IPA, if I remember correctly.

The flavor profile wasn't easy to nail down (and I'm not sure that I nailed it). Here goes: sugar cookies covered with a brown sugar and butterscotch glaze, candied grapefruit, brandy soaked plums and... bubblegum? I'm not sure about that last one since I can't imagine what ingredient would lead to a bubblegum flavor in a wheatwine. It may have been the sweet fruitiness playing tricks on my taste buds.

A substantial bitterness (and the alcohol) kept the sticky sweetness from taking over. It was amazing how the hops pummeled the malt sugars into submission in the second half of each mouthful. They then scrubbed the mouth and tongue clean on the bitter, biting, dessicating finish. It was an interesting effect. And a pleasurable one.

The body/mouthfeel was outstanding. Each sip was full and heavy cream creamilicious. It also contained a restrained amount of carbonation that didn't lose what little steam it had during the extended life of the snifter. I lingered an exceptionally long time since I was facing (and dreading) a 300-mile return trip.

Ramblin' Vine Wheatwine is one of the best Dane beers that I've had yet. It isn't really recommended for out-of-towners (unless you catch a nap in the back seat of your car), but Madisonites need to get on down to E. Doty Street and order up. Lucky bastards. (2,545 characters)

taste: it's nice to see the dane give a shot at the wheat wine...i have become used to entering the dane and having their rotationals be pure shit but the wheatwine and belgian pales were very much welcomed...this resembles a port at first with strong notions of raisins, dates, brown sugar and booze. these traits are matched and overshadowed by a big hop bitterness. notes of honey, graham crackers, and slight metallic tones are also present.